DOHA (Qatar): The NBK Group Qatar Baja 2005 has attracted an impressive line-up of international drivers and riders, despite this only being the event's second year in the FIA international calendar and the first time that it has been a round of the FIA International Cup for Cross-Country Bajas. Organised by the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF), the event takes place on November 23rd-26th.

Thirty-one cars, 61 motorcycles and 27 quads will tackle Qatar's all-desert finale to the world's all-terrain championship programmes. Among the entrants will be three cars, eight bikes and one quad from Germany, 13 motorcycles from the United Kingdom, 11 cars, 14 bikes and 10 quads from Italy and one car and 10 bikes from Spain. Other non-GCC countries represented include Lithuania, Russia, Portugal, Austria and Ireland.

~We were overwhelmed with interest from overseas competitors and had to take the unfortunate decision to limit the number of motorcycle entries this year to make sure that we did not have too many competitors,~ said Nasser Khalifa Al-Attiyah, President of the QMMF. ~Otherwise we may well have had around 150 motorcycles! In some ways that would have been a nice position to be in, but it is a shame that some people could not attend.~

The strong European contingent will line-up against a top class field of drivers and riders from Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which includes last year's car category winner Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah, from Qatar, and Tim Trenker, the UAE-based German rider who won the two-wheel section after a hard-fought battle with the Italian Oscar Polli.

While all eyes focus on the battle between Spain's Marc Blazquez and Portugal's Rui Sousa to decide the outcome of the FIA International Cup for Cross-Country Bajas - with Al-Attiyah thrown into the mix as the local pre-event favourite - there are several potential winners in the motorcycle category.

Khalid Khamis was running well in last week's UAE Desert Challenge before dropping off the leaderboard and the UAE rider should feature as one of the front-runners on his Honda, where he forms one arm of a three-bike MG Motorsport team with Trenker and Christopher Yenzer, both on KTMs.

But one name which already has the winning habit in the Middle East is the Irish Patterson family. Ulsterman Chris Patterson is better known for his co-driving exploits alongside Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah in both the FIA Middle East and FIA P-WRC Championships. While Chris prepares for the final round of the regional rally series in Dubai the following weekend, his younger brother Davy will be taking part in the Qatar Baja with support from Alfardan on a KTM.

The young Irishman has never competed in the Middle East before, but has been taking many tips from his brother and is relishing the challenge of competing in Qatar. ~Chris is well known in this region for co-driving and winning events with Nasser, so I need to give another part of the family a go over here,~ joked Davy.

The NBK Qatar Baja will be based at the Movenpick Hotel in Doha. Scrutineering takes place on the Doha Corniche between 07.00 hrs and 10.00 hrs on Thursday, November 24th and the official start will be at 14.00 hrs on the Doha Corniche. This will be followed by a timed Prologue stage at 14.30 hrs.

The opening two selective sections take place on Friday, November 25th, with a third selective section taking place on Saturday, November 26th.